Many agents still not ready for FICA changes

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Amendment Act is an important bit of news for anyone looking to sell or buy property in Johannesburg, and if you are a regular visitor the Private Property website, you are sure to have come across some news on the matter.

Recently, they caught up with industry experts to find out more as the April deadline fast approaches, however, the feedback was not very positive. There is a concern that the changes will further complicate property transactions, which is not ideal considering the current state of affairs.

Another reason that estate agents are growing increasingly tense is that they say there has been very little clarity provided, and there has been no guidance on how to fully implement the changes.

Jill Lloyd, who is an agent for Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, went a little deeper into the matter, saying that large amount of stipulations and mechanisms coming into play are going to have a major impact on both time and cost when it comes to transactions.

“At the moment we have more questions than answers and smaller or low-commission agencies especially could really struggle to achieve compliance by 1 April 2019. We urgently need more information if we are to abide by the law as well as service our clients to the proper standard,” she said.

Part of the reason for ringing the changes is the hopes of cutting out corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing. However, it is also placing a lot more responsibility on institutions such as estate agencies, who will need to collect a larger amount of data as well as do due diligence to find out where the money for transactions is coming from.

For smaller agencies, this could prove to be a little too taxing and it will be interesting to see how much of an impact it has once April arrives.